Knuckle-curve Boosts Astros' Rather

May 15, 1986|By Frank Carroll of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — Dody Rather, 21, a right-handed pitcher whose 79-mph knuckle-curve continues to baffle opponents of the Osceola Astros, has a chance to duplicate former Osceola pitcher Rob Mallicoat's performance of a year ago.

Mallicoat, who jumped from Class A Osceola of the Florida State League to Tucson, Houston's Class AAA Pacific Coast League franchise, after spring training, was the FSL's best in strikeouts (154), earned-run average (1.31) and victories (16).

Mallicoat, a left-hander, recently was reassigned to Columbus, Ga., in the Class AA Southern League after two consecutive poor outings.

Houston acquired Rather from the New York Yankees in a trade that sent knuckleball pitcher Joe Niekro to New York.

With the Yankees' Class A club in Oneonta of the New York-Penn League last year, Rather was 8-0, including a 15-strikeout no-hitter against the Watertown Pirates.

His season featured an 0.31 ERA and 88 strikeouts (16 walks) in 58 innings, including back-to-back outings totaling 17 and 16 strikeouts.

During one streak, he worked 49 innings without allowing an earned run, the best effort in the league since 1946.

This season Rather has 52 strikeouts in 53 innings, 19 more than St. Petersburg left-hander Jeff Fassero. Given his early success (5-2, 2.68 ERA), Rather soon could be promoted to Columbus.

Terming the self-taught knuckle-curve ''my out pitch'' and his ticket to major-league success, Rather equates it with a split-fingered fastball that is thrown by Bruce Sutter.

''That one pitch transformed Sutter into an instant success,'' said Rather, who also throws an 86-mph fastball and changeup.

A star at Houston's C.E. King High School, Rather opted for nearby San Jacinto Junior College. There he was 9-1 (1.79 ERA) and 15-1 (2.00) with 241 strikeouts in 210 innings over two seasons, numbers that took the Gators to the Junior College World Series finals and gained him a five-figure bonus contract from the Yankees as a first-round pick in the secondary phase of the June 1984 draft.

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Osceola General Manager Don Miers has been busy for 10 months organizing the FSL's 25th ''Silver Anniversary'' All-Star game, scheduled for 7 p.m. June 28 at Osceola County Stadium. Rosters will be announced June 16.